PARKER RIVER NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE PLUM ISLAND NEWBURYPORT.., MASSACHUSETTS 01950 ANNUAL NARRATIVE REPORT CALENDAR YEAR 1980 Satellite Refuges: John Hay NWR Monomoy NWR pond island NWR Rachel carson NWR (Separate Report) Thacher's island NWR Wapack NWR I PARKER RIVER NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE ( 1980 ANNUAL NARRATIVE i t I I permanent personnel 1. George w. Gavutis, jr.. Refuge Manager (GS-13) 2. Robert A. zelley. Assistant Refuge Manager (GS-11) 3. Douglas G. Spencer, Assistant Refuge Manager (GS-7) 4. Michael R. Bauer, Assistant Refuge Manager (GS-7) 5. Mark Lindvall, Outdoor Recreation planner (GS-7), Career-seasonal, resigned November, 1980 6. Donald G. Grover, visitor Assistance and Safety- Specialist (GS-9) 7. William L. papoulias, visitor protection and control Specialist (GS-7), career-Seasonal 8. Thomas J. Stubbs, Foreman (WS-9) 9. Raoul J. Deserres, Maintenance Mechanic (WG-10) 10. Daniel S. Rines, Maintenance worker (WG-7), career- Seasonal 11. Helen K. Garrett, Refuge Clerk (GS-4), part-time 12. Clara v. Bell, Refuge clerk (GS-5), part-time 13. Chester Dearborn, Maintenance worker (WG-7), part- time; Retired on medical disability March 7, 1980 REVIEW AND APPROVALS 3 Submitted by Area Office 3—^Date Parker River N. W. Refuge CtL Refuge Regional Office Date j t j 11 11 ! Temporary personnel Malcolm Fraser 6/16/80-8/15/80 Camp Director, youth Conservation corps Barry connell 6/16/80-8/15/80 Environmental Education Specialist, ycc Nancy L. Riley 6/16/80-8/15/80 Group Leader, YCC Frederick w. Sargent 3/9/80-8/31/80 information Receptionist Neil D. Courtney 6/15/80-8/31/80 Laborer Joseph p. Accomando 3/23/80-8/31/80 Biological Aid Shawn Robinson 4/20/80-9/14/80 information Receptionist Parker River young Adult conservation corps David Murphy (GS-7) Group Leader Bob J. Ridenour (GS-5) Group Leader TABLE OF CONTENTS Page I. GENERAL i i • A. introduction 1 B. Climatic and Habitat conditions 2 C. Land Acquisition 4 D - System status 4 h II. CONSTRUCTION AND MAINTENANCE 1 • A. Construction- 8 B. Maintenance 10 C • wildfire 10a III. HABITAT MANAGEMENT I A. croplands 11 B • Grasslands —-—- 11 C. wetlands 11 D. Forestlands 12 E. Other Habitat 12 F• wilderness and Special Areas 14 G. Easements fori waterfowl Management 14 IV. WILDLIFE A. Endangered and/or Threatened Species 14 B. Migratory Birds 14 C. Mammals and Non-Migratory Birds and Others 20 \ 1 V. INTERPRETATION AND RECREATION A. information and interpretation 23 B. Recreation 25 C • Enforcement 27 i VI. OTHER ITEMS A. Field investigations 35 B. cooperative programs 3 5 C - items of interest 36 D. safety 41 >E. credit 42 t } I. GENERAL Introduction i h j » Parker River National wildlife Refuge is located in the northeast corner of Massachusetts, 38 miles north of Boston and 20 miles south of Portsmouth, New Hampshire. I ; 1 The refuge comprises almost all of the southern two-thirds of plum island and 2,000 acres of saltmarsh between the island and the mainland to the west. Eighty acres at the extreme southern tip are owned by the Department of Environ­ mental Management, Division of Forests and parks, common­ wealth of Massachusetts. The two-acre headquarters and residence site is located on the heavily inhabited northern­ most tip of the island, next to an operational, unmanned Coast Guard lighthouse. )i , With the Atlantic Ocean as its eastern border, the refuge forms one of the few natural barrier island complexes left in New England. The 4,650 acres of parker River are can- prised of 1,229 acres of sand dune and beach, 2,994 acres of saltmarsh, 265 acres of freshwater pools, 88 acres of grasslands, and 74 acres of administrative lands. Two miles of man-made dikes impound three freshwater areas. These impoundments, rainfall-dependent, create a diverse and intensively used habitat for numerous wildlife species. Many species commonly found on these impoundments would not otherwise be found on the refuge. I ; t ' As there are over three million people living within 50 miles of the refuge, visitor use is high, wildlife recre­ ation, both consumptive and non-consumptive, occurs through­ out the year.1 } • j i In the summer, wildlife-oriented use falls off and the use of our "wildlands" beach becomes highest in demand. On many nice summer days, the refuge gate is closed by mid- morning as all parking lots are filled to capacity. Rachel carson National wildlife Refuge in southern coastal Maine is under the administration of parker River. it is composed of nine divisions stretching from Kittery to Portland and is staffed with an Assistant Refuge Manager and a temporary part-time Clerk/Typist. Also under the i 1 t 2. administration of Parker River, until September 30th, were the following unstaffed satellite refuges: pond island, Maine Wapack, New Hampshire John Hay, New Hampshire Thacher's island, Massachusetts I I t in FY 1981, wapack and John Hay were assigned to Great Meadows National wildlife Refuge and Parker River picked up Monomoy National wildlife Refuge, Chatham, Massachusetts, and Nantucket National wildlife Refuge, Nantucket, Massachusetts. B. Climatic and Habitat conditions As the year began, the snow drought of last winter appeared to be continuing. The mild winter conditions persisted through February causing an early thaw of the freshwater pools. Spring was cold and damp, with temperatures only slowly beginning to moderate by May. June and July had their share of hazy, hot, and humid weather, but summer rains did make the season wetter than normal. A dry September caused the freshwater pools to reach the lowest levels'observed in the last few years. Although most of the month was unseasonably hot, the first general frost occurred early on the 29th. On October 25th, the year's fiercest snow struck. The "nor'easter, 11 packing 60 m.p.h. winds, dropped two inches of rain in six hours. Three-foot deep sand dunes blocked the main road on the north end of plum Island, effectively cutting off the headquarters site from the refuge. 1 ' . | t The freshwater pools froze on November 17th, but subsequent mild weather thawed them until the beginning of December. During the third week of December, an 8-inch snowfall occurred and remained on the ground for weeks as record- breaking sub-zero temperatures occurred from Christmas Day into January.' *-• ! I ro Month Temperature precipitation Water Levels (ft. ASL) F inches North Forward Max. Min Rain Snow pool pool JAN 52 7 0.48 1/4 pools Frozen FEB 50 4 0.90 6 1/4 Gauge in MAR 60 4 4.55 5 1/2 Disrepair 4.76 APR 73 30 5.32 5.02 MAY 87 38 1.81 5.86 4.53 JUN 93 44 3.35 Data Missing JUL 95 56 4.19 AUG 92 54 2.42 5.01 3.90 SEP 90 37 1.34 4.45 3.55 OCT 72 28 5.05 4. 93 4.04 NOV 62 18 3.55 7 5.50 4.35 DEC 58 -12 0.94 7 1/4 pools Frozen 33.90 26 1/4 4. 1980 Doug spencer Drought, combined with a drawdown, enabled us to expose a wide expanse of bottom in an effort to encourage revegetation of the Stage island pool. C. Land Acquisition 1. Fee Title There is no active acquisition program at parker River National wildlife Refuge. Under the Refuge Revenue sharing Act, $47,789.00 was paid to the Town of Newbury; $20,625.00 to Rowley; $34,867.00 to Ipswich; and $417.00 to Newburyport for a total of $103,689.00 to Essex County, Massachusetts for Fiscal year 1979. This is a 3,782% increase over the previous year for the county due to re-evaluations of beach frontage. (i , D. System status 1. Objectives Refuge Objectives were revised in 1974, currently the refuge is engaged in a master planning process which will serve as a principal basis for future management and development programs. Parker River Refuge was selected as the Region 5 "test" refuge for the master planning process following disagree ment with local conservation groups and subsequent cancel lation of our BLHP development program, A minimum of public interest and involvement input during the decision making process during the PPBE program and the early- portion of the BLHP program were major factors leading to the cancellation of the construction projects. Other factors related to difficulties in obtaining all the various types of permits, approvals, etc. once the controversy began. This episode in refuge history is further described in section VI-C. i 2. Funding Funding and manpower for the past five years are shown in the following tables. 1 FUNDING 1210 1220 1240 Other Total O&M Cyclical O&M cyclical O&M cyclical 133,300 37,000 5,000 152,000 33,000 360,300 109,000 33,000 7,000 147,000 37,000 333,000 104,000 33,000 6,000 149,000 33,000 1,000* 326,000 111,971 9,000 2,575 150,688 34,000 308,234 82,000 197.000 91.000**9^0.900 * In subactivity 1110. ** For Rehabilitation. 7 STAFFING - FULL-TIME EQUIVALENTS permanent permanent part-time FY Full-Time and career seasonal Temporary Total 1981* 8.0 4.25 1.98 14.23 1980 9.0 4.1 1.7 14.8 1979 9.5 3.2 1.3 14.0 1978 10.0 4.3 14.3 1977 8.9 2.2 11.1 •planned. 8. I 1 1 : h i < : , i s II- CONSTRUCTION AND MAINTENANCE A.